Build Your Business Wardrobe with these 36 Essentials

Leave the medically questionable purge diets, miracle workouts and promises to read more Gladwell in favor of another tack toward personal reinvention: It’s high time you downsized the week-old, bruise-colored collars, pleated pants and shoes with frayed laces. Embracing a new look — whether at the office or out on the town — always starts with a war chest of quality basics and a respect for your uniform. These business wardrobe staples fit all manner of budgets and work environments, granted you aren’t a NorCal wunderkind working in the corporate equivalent of a McDonald’s playpen.